Coming Sept. 30 - The Last Seer by Cerece Rennie Murphy

The
Seers face the ultimate challenge in The Last Seer, the third and final
book in the Order of the Seers trilogy. Coming September 30, 2014!

When
the fall of one nemesis unleashes an even greater danger into the
world, Lilli, Joel and the Lost Seers must stand against a new enemy
with the means and the will to destroy all of mankind, starting with
those they hold most dear.

As the Seers mobilize to
confront this new evil, the Guild tries desperately to uphold the
crumbling world order on which it depends. When their attempts to
manage the crisis fail, the members of the Guild are forced to place
themselves at the mercy of an unlikely ally.But the Guild isn’t the only one interested in maintaining control.

An
agreement made in secret threatens to destroy any hope of a peaceful
alliance before it can be made and as the betrayals unfold, no one is
safe against a power that will stop at nothing to get what it wants. To
defeat this threat and ensure the survival of the human race, the Seers
must push the boundaries of their abilities beyond any limits they have
known and risk crossing the line between life and death. How far would you go to protect what matters most?

Praise for The Last Seer"Once
enemies the Seers and Guild now have to come together to end a new
reign of terror... I can’t say too much as I was already kindly scolded
on Twitter for my excitement of the book..., so what I will say is the
book series closes with much praise, “That each of us is infinite and
capable of wonders.” -- Black Girl Nerd

Excerpt from THE LAST SEER

Prologue

The Cover of Darkness

Bamiyan Province, Afghanistan

The
high-pitched wail of the creatures was deafening as their black wings
beat against the red sky. From the caves scraped out of the
mountainside, the valley looked desolate, a place of ruin. Beasts ruled
the heavens as the damned lay broken below.

And in between, Ghazal, and what was left of her village, huddled, trapped between two hells.

Whether
anyone else in the world was aware of what was happening to them,
Ghazal had no way of knowing. With the preparations for her dowry, her
family didn't have the money to replace their old TV when it died and
the radio they had was gone-smashed to pieces in the rush to escape the
creatures that now held them confined in their cave.

Barely
half an hour before, while the watchmen were catching their first
glimpse of something on the horizon, Ghazal's neighbors had only just
entered her home, carrying news of strange sightings from around the
world-Geneva, London, Paris-places she had read about, but was sure she
would never see.

Though at first their forms were
little more than blotches against the setting sun, the screeching sounds
that echoed before them erased any question in the watchmen's minds
about the nature of what approached. Whatever it was meant them harm.
They sounded the alarm. Her betrothed, her father, and all the other men
of the valley ran forth to set a perimeter and face the threat head on.

The clerics, the women, and the children were left behind to run and endure as best they could. It was just as in her vision.

At
the time, Ghazal had called after the men wildly, telling them it was
useless, but no one listened. She had to be dragged away in her grief as
she saw her vision unfold-bodies thrown, fires burning, and the sound
of bones crushed under the weight of merciless feet.

Clarity
came at the mouth of the precipice. She looked back at those who had
carried and comforted her up the mountain one last time before stepping
out onto the cliff's edge. The blue draping of her burka billowed and
soared in the hot air as she leapt off into the unsuspecting clutches of
a beast that had no hope of surviving what she could do.

Chapter 1: Set in Motion

They
drove back to Geneva in silence, each consumed by the dread of what was
to come. Occasionally, you could hear the soft vibration of Joel's
thumb tapping his phone screen as he made arrangements for a plane to
take them back to London, but otherwise, no one made a sound. Though
unspoken, each of them understood that they were listening for the
screeching sounds that had been echoing in their ears ever since they
left Crane's castle.

"I'm sorry," Lilli finally said to
no one in particular as she stared out of the backseat window. Joel
tried to bring her closer into his one-armed embrace, but she resisted,
feeling unworthy of the comfort.

"You did everything you could, Lilli. Everything," Joel whispered.

"Yeah.
Maybe I did too much. Look at what's happened. There are more, you
know, so many more. 'Legions', he said, and I can feel them. I know
Maura can too, like a darkness spreading."

"This wasn't your fault," Joel tried again, but his words made no difference.

"How
do you know this?" Joel asked. He had no choice but to focus on her
words. Her mind was moving too fast for him to comprehend.

Lilli
turned from the window to face him. For an instant, she wondered why he
didn't know the answer, just as she did. But then she felt it, the
incongruence in their thoughts.

For the first time
since they'd met, she realized that her consciousness had become somehow
separate from his, and the new distance hurt her deeply.

"Because I know." Lilli answered with tears burning in her eyes.

As
Joel watched them run silently down her cheeks, he understood what she
was trying to tell him. From the place she now inhabited, she could
sense them clearly. She could see and understand more than she ever had
before.

It won't be long, he thought. I will join you whenever we decide.

Lilli
nodded her head slightly after shooting a quick glance at Liam in the
driver's seat. Closing her eyes, Lilli willed her thoughts to slow until
she could feel her connection with Joel restored.

Yes, she answered in relief, after we tell him. We'll wait until then.

Having
resolved at least one of the many problems that plagued her mind, Lilli
finally allowed herself the comfort of Joel's embrace. She'd just begun
to release the tension in her body when Liam spoke up.

From
the driver's seat, Liam had been listening in on their conversation,
hoping to glean something that would explain what they'd witnessed. But
just as she and Joel had finally gotten to the heart of his questions,
they fell silent. As the quiet stretched on, Liam risked an impatient
glance in the rear view mirror to find them engrossed in silent
conversation.

"Ah, you guys mind sharing with the rest
of the class?" Liam asked. "Who or what was that back there? I'd like to
know what we're dealing with."

"The demon you saw was
Crane," Lilli explained. "I killed him, but in doing that I think I've
unleashed something worse. Something that was at least partially under
control before, but now...now, they are more dangerous."

"The creatures..." Liam said.

"Yes, they were with Crane. But those were just a few. There are more-many more-that have been unleashed because of me."

Liam
squinted at his sister in the rearview mirror. "Why do you keep saying
that-'because of me'? Even you have blind spots, Lilli. How could you
have known? You were fighting for your life." When she didn't
immediately disregard what he'd said, Liam seized the chance to ask one
of the questions he really wanted to know.

"And how did
you kill him, by the way? You didn't even lift a finger. You
just...spoke to him. I've never seen you do that before. When did you
learn that?"

As Liam was talking, Alessandra turned in
her seat to look back at Lilli. She had seen the difference in Lilli as
soon as they broke down the castle door. In the heat of the moment,
Alessandra hadn't given it any thought, but looking at her now, even the
feeling of Lilli's presence in the Collective was different. Brighter,
but somehow more dispersed.

Don't say anything! Please! Not yet.

Alessandra
heard Lilli's pleading words in her mind clearer than she ever had
before. Not spoken through the Collective, but directly into her
thoughts.

Why? She asked silently.

Because I am becoming something different...

Alessandra
eyed Lilli and Joel suspiciously, but said nothing as she processed the
warning in Lilli's words-the clear notion that "different" was not a
good thing in this case. Liam, she realized. This is about protecting
Liam.

Yes, Lilli answered while keeping her outward attention on her brother.

Alessandra
hesitated for only a moment before turning back around in her seat.
Whatever Lilli had to say would hurt Liam and as far as Alessandra was
concerned, there was no need to do that now.

Before her
silent exchange with Alessandra was over, Lilli answered her brother
aloud, as if theirs was the only conversation taking place.

"No,
I didn't know this would happen, but I should have tried to see it. I
was just so focused on him not hurting me or you guys that I just wanted
him gone."

Liam was quiet again, considering the few facts he knew with the guilt he could still hear in Lilli's voice.

"Listen,
you did what you had to back there. Demons, flying creatures,
whatever-this whole thing is crazy. Crazy. I don't think any of us could
have imagined how deep this thing really is. We still don't even know
exactly what we're into now, so let's just try to make it home, regroup
with the others, and figure this out. We're going to figure this out,
Lilli. Don't worry."

As Liam watched her from the
rearview, Lilli made sure she gave him the small smile he was looking
for even though she wasn't at all sure that what he said was true.

Satisfied that Lilli seemed a little more settled, Liam shifting his attention to the shaken man directly behind him.

"What about you, Christof?" Liam asked. "Should we drop you somewhere or are you coming with us?"

Christof turned his weary gaze away from the blurred landscape outside his window to meet Liam's eyes in the mirror.

ABOUT THE AUTHORCerece Rennie Murphy lives and writes just outside of her hometown of Washington, DC. In addition to completing the Order of the Seers trilogy,
Ms. Murphy is also developing a children’s book series titled
Enchanted: 5 Tales of Magic in the Everyday and a book on understanding
marriage/relationship advice for single women entitled More than the
Ring. To learn more about the author and her upcoming projects, visit
her website at www.crmurphybooks.com.